Back at that shop on Manchester Road

I wonder how many people remember visiting Whitegg’s the grocer’s shop after its makeover in 1961.

Now I am fairly confident that there will be quite a few people given that yesterday’s story about the shop brought forth a shed full of memories.*

I have long wondered if there was a connection between the Whitelegg family that ran the Bowling Green and another Whitelegg who was the tenant farmer at Red Gates Farm further down Manchester Road.

It was a bit of research I never took further.

But then Andy Robertson sent me two pictures of the building as it looks today and pointed me towards a photograph taken in 1958.

And that was enough to set a story going and as they it is a tale which will run and run because Andy is back with another old picture and a bit of research.

It seems that this picture dating from 1961 was taken during the alterations to the shop and led Andy to ponder on the chap in white.

He suggested I "check out  the man in white coat who looks very grocer-like, could well be Thomas Whitelegg who was born in 1916 and looks just the right in 19161.

His parents were Thomas Whitelegg, Maggie Robertson who were married in 1910 and also ran a grocery and confectionary shop at 17 Hope Road Sale.

Thomas Whitelegg senior was the son of Joseph (1860-1944), a grocer and milk dealer, born Manchester.

And there the continuity breaks down because Joseph’s father and grandfather were cabinet makers from Manchester.”

Of course like all good researchers Andy is careful to point out that he could be wrong but concludes that “it all looks promising.”

Which indeed it does and along the way rules out my theories but offers up some fascinating new lines of inquiry, leaving me only  to quote from my favourite Fu Man Chu film “the world has not heard the last of this.”

Actually he said “the world has not heard the last of me” but that didn’t fit.

So before I get too silly I shall just add that Mr Thomas Whitelegg is listed as the shop keeper in 1969 and so will in all probability be the chap looking on at the conversion and will also be the chap who served so many of those customers who have remembered the place with fondness.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Research; Andy Robertson

Pictures; No 61 alteration of shop front, A H Downes, 1961, m18076, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and the shop entrance, 2016 from the collection of Andy Robertson

* In search of Whitelegg's on the corner of Manchester Road and Oswald Lane, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/in-search-of-whiteleggs-on-corner-of.html

Remembering Kingspot on Barlow Moor Road

Kingspot, circa 1980s

I went looking for pictures of Kingy today.

It was just one of those places we took for granted and long before Pound Shops it was somewhere you could get a bargain.

Here could be found everything from washing pegs, to happy colourful toys and that fabulous print of the San Francisco Bridge at sunset.

Much of what was on offer was plastic and sometimes I wondered whether they had their own plastic factory somewhere east of Hong Kong.

A post box and a sun shade, May 1959

So it was no surprise that Kingspot was always full and getting round the shop could be a challenge which often involved avoiding the buggies, and shopping trollies as you worked you way down the two isles looking for a washing up bowl and ending up instead with two plastic imitation Flying Ducks to hang above the plastic water fountain.

Our kids always seemed to be in their usually when the latest craze for BB guns hit Chorlton which I suspect followed a few days after a new consignment of cheap toys had arrived from China.

It was no different from when I was growing up.  Back then there seemed to be the regular season for marbles, cap guns and fag cards which on reflection also coincided with the latest shipment of cheap toys from abroad.

In its way Kingy was just a shop version of the market stall, but as we don’t have an old fashioned market in Chorlton this place did the business.

Sitting in the sun,April 1959

It was for a while an institution and there will be many of a certain age with fond memories of the place.

So far only the one picture of the shop has come to light and so I thought I would contrast it with a time before those plastci toys and pegs and pictures were available.

And so here are two taken in the spring of 1959 by Mr Downs who was responsible for many other fine pictures of Chorlton in the 1950's

Shirt sleeves and overcoats on that April day

It was clearly a bright day and some at least of the shop keepers had those canvas sheets over the front of the windows which performed the double task of protecting the display and advertising the business.

Bright as it may have been some waiting by the bus station had opted not to trust that April sun and walked out in overcoat and head scarf.

Others however were just sitting watching events pass by.



Now I first posted the story without that picture of Kingspot and I have Wendy to thank for pointing that it

was already there on the Chorlton facebook site and to Brian who gave me permission to use it  all of which goes to show the power of social networks

And just ours after this story was posted Jean Kingsberry left a new comment Which deserved to be included in the text.

"Thank you for your kind comments.

We rented 360 Barlow Moor Road for 21 years before we were able to buy it.

The flat above was our first home when we got married in 1970, we sold in 2005. My mother-in-law, Eileen lived there from 1972 until she passed away.

Many remember her and the several small dogs she took for walks over the years.

All the family worked in that branch at some time. My father-in-law, Harry, my husband, Keith, our son Craig and daughter Andrea.We retired in 2008, after selling our last shop in Urmston, and now live in Cyprus."

Location; Manchester

Pictures, Kingspot, circa 1980's courtesy of Brian Lee Williams, east side of Barlow Moor Road, May 1959, m17609, and west side by the bust terminus, April 1959, 17610, A H Downs, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Buying your meat from Mr Unsworth of 2 Chorlton Green in 1909 .... Chorlton's corner shop nu 10

The caption on the picture just says “James Unsworth’s butcher shop on the corner of the Green Albermarle Road.  This shop later became and still is a barbers shop. Private photograph, origin unknown.”

Now I remember it as a barber’s shop, regularly visiting it during the 70s and 80s and even taking my eldest.

Bob who had the business when I went there had been born in Chorlton and had plenty of stories about the place.

I can date the picture from sometime after 1903 and before 1911.

This I can be certain of because back in 1903 the terrace of three shops and houses had yet to be built and from at least 1911 this butcher’s shop was run by Mr Mark Glazerbrook who was recorded in the directories from the start of 1911 at no 2 Chorlton Green.

A decade earlier he had been helping his father run the family butcher’s shop in Railway Street in Ardwick, and in 1910 he married Lillian Carr.

So just perhaps this was their first married home.

That said within another ten years he was trading in Reddish all of which points to the high turnover of some of these small family businesses.

Mr Unsworth was at number 2 in 1909 when his neighbours were Ernest Bugler, cycle maker at number 4 and Stanley Moss, grocer at number 6.

Two years later both James and Mr Moss had moved on.

I don’t suppose we should be surprised for back in the early 20th century there were plenty of butchers, grocers and green grocers in close proximity in Chorlton and competition must have been fierce.

Just opposite was Whittaker’s the grocers and up along Beech Road there were more grocery and butchers shops with even more across the green and behind.

And that is about it except to say I got through the story without commenting on the meat on display in the open air, the sand on the shop floor or  Mr Unsworth’s long knife.

On the other hand, here is the shop in 1979, when those of us who wanted a haircut and a good natter would call in at Bob's.

And that really is it.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; of Mr Unsworths' shop circa 1909 from the Lloyd collection and Bobs's in 1979 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Almost a century of cutting hair on Wilbraham Road with the Stevenson family

Now there will be plenty of people with fond memories of Stevenson’s the hairdressers.

It did the business of cutting, shampooing and much more from 432 Wilbraham Road from 1908 until almost the end of that century.

I remember it well as does Bob Jones who shared with me some of his wife’s photographs of when she worked there in the 1960s.*

And just last week leafing through an old souvenir book I came across this 1908 advert for the shop.

Nothing quite prepares you for how different shop fronts were more than a century ago.

It starts with that large ornate lamp at the entrance which carried Mr Stevenson’s name and I guess would have been lit by gas.

And from there your eye is drawn to the shop window which conforms to that simple marketing approach of fill every bit of space with something to sell which included everything from shampoo, to umbrellas and even wigs.

Now I have no idea just how much call there was for wigs back in 1908 but Mr Stevenson described himself as not only a “hairdresser” but also “a wig maker and fancy dealer.”

I have to confess that the term “fancy dealer” had me stumped but it describes someone who sold imitation jewellery and ornaments which in the context of the shop made perfect sense.

After all having had your hair done for that night out it made sense to buy something special to go with it, and no doubt Miss Emma Stevenson who assisted in “the sales department” could be relied on to offer up expert advice.

At 27 she was 15 years younger than her brother and may well joined the business when Mr Stevenson made the move from his shop on Barlow Moor Road which I think he opened in 1899.

Back then he employed two male hairdressers and seems to have made the move to Wilbraham Road sometime between 1903 and 1908.

Now in 1903 the row of shops from Albany down to Keppel Road had yet to be added on to the front of what had been a fine set of terraced of houses.

Such I suspect was the demand for more retail properties with the growing population that the owners of the terrace recognised the commercial advantages of the conversion.

And that has seemed to have been a sound decision.  For decades it was a prime place to do business, just yards from the railway station and almost directly opposite the post office.

So much so that the Stevenson family along with Burt’s the “gentleman’s outfitters” saw no reason to move and continued offering perms and ties to generations of Chorlton people.

At some point Mr and Mrs Stevenson moved out of the flat above the shop and settled on St Werburgh’s Road where Mr Stevenson died in 1936.

But as they say that’s another story.

Location; Chorlton, Manchester

Picture; advert forJ.R.Stevenson’s, 1908 from the Souvenir of the Grand Wesleyan Church Bazaar, 1908, courtesy of Philip Lloyd and three young stylists at Stevenson’s circa 1965, from the collection of Bob Jones.

*Stevenson's the hairdressers, cutting and styling from 1909 on Wilbraham Road, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/stevensons-hairdressers-cutting-and.html

A second hand shop, a skiffle group called the Rattlenakes, and the Bee Gees

It started as a story on the second hand shops of Chorlton, and along the way someone mentioned Chorlton Curios which was quite a coincidence because in the Lloyd Collection there is a photograph of the shop along with the three owners.

The picture was taken in October 1978, and I am a little puzzled as to how it got into the collection.

The notes on the back are less than helpful, running simply to “Former Bee-Gees L TO R Paul Frost, Mrs Frost Kenny Horrocks Former Bee Gees”.

I remember the shop and we do have two coloured glass lamp shades which I think date from the 1930s and could have been bought from the place.

A little research turned up, that Mr Frost and Mr Horrocks played in the Rattlesnakes which lasted from 1957 into 1958.  

Paul Frost is listed as vocals and drums, Kenny Horrocks, vocals and tea-chest bass, and the line up was completed by Barry Alan Crompton Gibb, Robin Hugh Gibb and Maurice Ernest Gibb who respectively were vocals, acoustic guitar, and vocals, toy guitar.*

Now I wasn’t expecting that, and I rather think there will be lots more.

All of which just leaves me with how the picture got into the collection, and here I have a vague memory of my old and dear friend Allan Brown telling me that John Lloyd one of our local historians wrote articles for the Journal and on occasion borrowed pictures from the news desk.

If so it was one that was never returned, but that is a story for another day.

I have to confess to being a cautious chap, and so until I find Mr and Mrs Frost and Mr Horrocks to ask permission to show the picture, you dear reader, just get the shop front. 

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Chorlton Curios, October 1978, from the Lloyd Collection.

*The Bee Gees Family Tree, The British Sound, July 13 2011http://thebritishsound.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/bee-gees-family-tree.html

Shopping in Chorlton at Adsega …… which became Tesco and Hanbury’s ……. Supermarkets I have known

Now, I have to admit I never shopped at Adsega in Chorlton, but friends did and have told me so.

Marion Jackson was the first telling me “When Adsega/Tesco opened at Chorlton office my mother carefully obeyed the sign telling her to take a basket. We had it for years!”,

Which was followed by Craig who commented “People don't believe me when I say there was a Supermarket called Adsega. Thank you!!”, and David who added “Remember my mother shopped there when I was young, when she mentioned Adsega some thought she meant Asda".

So, that set me going and the first port of call was Company House, from which I discovered that Adsega was registered in 1959, “to carry on business as wholesale and retail grocers” as well as "producers, manufacturers and importers” of a variety of food". *

It had a short life and its 47 stores were acquired by Tesco in 1965, which I guess was when its shop in the former cinema on Barlow Moor Road became part of the new retail empire before the building was sold on to, Hanbury’s.**

At present I don’t have a picture of the Chorlton Adsega, but I bet someone has a photograph of the shop on Barlow Moor Road, or maybe even other bits of ephemera, from shopping bags, receipts a loyalty card.

In the meantime, I like the way, a little bit of our forgotten past as come out of the shadows.

And it follows on from an earlier story about self service stores in Chorlton, which included the comment that the book on the arrival of supermarkets and how they were greeted has yet to be written.

So, thank you to Marion Jackson,  Craig Henderson and David Wilson with the expectation that this is just the beginning.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; the former cinema on Barlow Moor Road which became an Adsega, m09248, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass


*Adsega, 

** How Many Companies Does Tesco Own?


*** A Chorlton revolution ……….. the self-service shop

When you are old enough to remember half day closing ….. and more

I won’t be the only one who remembers when shops closed early one day in the week, pubs stopped serving in the middle of the afternoon and that week in summer when everything in Ashton ground to a halt during Wakes Week.

Mr. England outside his shop by Chorlton Green, circa 1960s

Not that this is some nostalgic meander through the past.

Even then it seemed to me that shop workers and publicans deserved their time off, more so when the shop was one of those corner ones which were pretty much “open all hours”.

Added to which Wakes week seemed a fine idea until you lived in the town and the place became very quiet.

And growing up in the 1950s there were those regulations which prevented you buying some products which in turn led me once to swear eternal secrecy by the shop keeper when I was sent for a packet of butter which she doubled wrapped in newspaper. That said it could have been eggs or potatoes, which the passage of nearly 70 years has made obscure.

It reinforces that other memory of Sundays which was boredom.  Too young to go to the cinema, and with limited hours of broadcasting on the one channel on the telly, the day stretched out as a day to endure.

Most of my friends didn’t play out on a Sunday which left the time divided between rereading last weeks comics and watching the odd passerby.

Paul England outside the shops by the Green, circa 1960s

And then things changed with the relaxation of the laws on retail trading and pub hours, which I can pinpoint.

But just when half day closing became a thing of the past I have yet to track down, along with the slow decline of the traditional retail pattern which saw several grocery shops, green grocers, and butchers existing close to each other in every small community.

Of course, before the widespread ownership of fridges and freezers shopping daily was more to do with keeping food fresh than a lifestyle choice.

But now with online shopping, and the bike delivery just a click away half day closing is just a redundant memory.

Leaving me just to acknowdge that in Varese in northern Italy where some of the faily live, the shops still do close for a few hours in the middle of the day.

And that's it.

Location; the past

Pictures; shopping in Chorlton in the 1960s, from the collection of Paul England

When you could get a haircut, visit the slaughterhouse and never move off Beech Road

Now, I am old enough to remember walking that short stretch of Beech Road from the corner of Chequers Road down as far as Macqueen, and buying a bottle of wine in the off license, a cake from Lambert's, playing with the idea of a hair cut from Mr Jackson and standing in the ironmongers in what is now Macqueen.

Elk, 2019

Had I done the same journey in 1911, I could have got that bottle of wine, the cake, and the haircut from the same shops which isn’t bad given that over sixty-four years separates the two journeys.

And that is a remarkable bit of continuity, for a road which is now dominated by cafés, bars, restaurants and gift shops and clothes shops.

For those who want the exact details, what is now Ludo’s’ was Mason and Burrows, “grocers” and “wine and spirit merchants”, next door at 48, had been a baker and later a grocery shop, which in 1911 was a confectioner. 

The hairdressers have always been a hairdresser during that 60 odd years, and what had been the iron mongers was once a Drape’s and butcher’s shops.

All of which is an introduction to the history of just one of those properties, which was Elk, but began when Mrs Martha Thorpe moved into the premise sometime around 1879.

The property dates from the year before when the address was still Chorlton Row and was one of a row of houses owned by William Mounsey.

Beech Road, 1958

The very first tenant was a Mary Jane Kershaw and it is not clear what she sold in the shop but by the following year when Mrs Thorpe took over the tenancy it is listed as a “slaughter house” and she continued to do the business of selling meat from the property till the beginning of the 20th century.

For a while after that it was confectioner’s and then a bakery and later a grocer’s shop run by the Lambert family. 

I remember it as such and its conversion into a card and gift shop before it returned to its old connection with food.  For this was Primavera opened by Patrick Hannity in the early 1990s and then by degree becoming Beggars Bush and Mink before re opening as Elk.

Buonissmo, 2000

Primavera was a very different restaurant to what had gone before in Chorlton and quite rightly drew customers from other parts of the city and out into Cheshire.

Its mix of imaginative dishes heavily influenced by the cuisine of the Mediterranean has been widely copied across Chorlton but seldom bettered.

And there is an argument that Primavera, along with the Café on the Green, followed by Buonissimo, the Italian deli run by Bob and Del Amato, pretty much kick started the bar revolution on Beech Road and beyond.

Of course any one with access to the directories for Beech Road, along with some old photographs and a long memory could add more.

Location; Beech Road

Pictures; Elk, 2019, the shop window of Buonissimo, 2000, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Beech Road in 1958, R.E. Stanley, m17670, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Turning up bits of Chorlton’s history in the most unexpected places .... the T shirt

Now here is a bit of history, and like lots of good history it is something that takes us directly to one person’s story.

It belongs to Francesca who wrote “I helped Bob, my uncle in Buonissiomo during the holidays and it was always busy. 

Still have the black T shirts with the logo on the sleeve we were given as uniform.”

Francesca had left the comment as part of a series of posts following a story I did on Buonissiomo which was the Italian deli on Beech Road.

So there you have it a little bit of Chorlton’s history along with a big bit of Francesca’s.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Buonissiomo T shirt, courtesy of Francesca

The Lost Chorlton pictures ......... no 9. ......... Beech Road

Now I had quite forgotten this picture, which had sat as a negative in the cellar for four decades.

And I am rather pleased it has come to light.

We are on Acres Road and to our right is the box factory which had once been a laundry, and opposite is the hair dressers which was to become Cafe on the Green.

Directly ahead is the pet shop which closed earlier in 2019, and beside it The Village Wholefood Shop.

Back then there was a debate about that bit of open land, with some of the traders urging the Corporation to make it into a car park which the Council agreed to if the traders made a contribution to the cost.

This never happened and what had once been a fine house before it was demolished remain open land for another decade.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Beech Road, 1979 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Clocking the continuity of Beech Road …………… now that’s a zippy title

Now, despite all the new restaurants, wine bars and gift shops that present themselves along Beech Road, it is easy to overlook the continuity of businesses.

Beech Road circa 1900

So, take this old image of the road, from some time around the turn of the last century, and it is possible to spot the bakery on the corner with Neale Road, and the newsagents at the junction with Chequers Road.

And long with these there was the wine merchants of Mason & Burroughs, which continued to trade under the name of various companies until as Victoria Wines it closed about a decade ago.

Added to these, there has been a pet shop at various locations along Beech Road, and a stationer.

Mason & Burrows, 1900

Some like the newsagents can claim to have always traded as such right back to when Mr. Nixon opened in the early 1900s.

And while Mr. and Mrs Nixon were new to the trade, his father had run the stationers, in what is now 68 Beech Road and his grandparents had offered up beer and cheer in the Traveler’s Rest from the 1840s.

Nor is that the end, because Mr. Nixon’s great grandfather ran the pub over the water in what is now Jackson’s Boat, while Mrs. Nixon’s grandfather was Brownhill the wheelwright.

Today, the newsagents is run by the Etchells family who have been there since the 1960s, and next door in what is now a Chinese takeaway, opened as fish and ship shop at the same time as Mr. Nixon began selling newspapers.

All of which leads me back to Mason & Burrows, which is now occupied by épicerie Ludo, a place I have long been a fan of.  For here can be found a wonderful range of freshly baked bread, an equally interesting selection of wines and lots more food in between.

épicerie Ludo, 2018

For those of us who missed Buonissimo after it closed, the return of a deli on to Beech Road is most welcome, and I have to say that Ludo and Darren go out of their way to source my requests.

So, there it is, …………… and for those who didn’t know, the Co-op at the bottom of Beech Road, follows in the footsteps of the one that stood almost opposite.


Of course, patterns of shopping have changed and our tradional shops which included a grocer, a green grocer, butchers, hardware store and even a televion repair shop have gone, replaced by the advent of cafe society, the gift shop and the hairdressers.

Cafe Society, 2004

Location; Beech Road







Pictures; Beech Road circa 1900, from the collection of Rita Bishop, épicerie Ludo, 2018, courtesy of the owners, and café life, 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The shop …………. Beech Road on the cusp of change

I liked the plant shop on Beech Road. 

I can’t remember when it opened up or for that matter when it closed.

It predated the full Beech Road revolution, so while we had Buonissimo, Primavera, and The Lead, we still had a Post Office, Muriel and Richard’s and an old fashioned offi.

More than that the shop did not offer up a sleek, ultra-stylish approach.

Instead it was a jumble of treasures, where plants rubbed up against porcelain figures of cats, garden statues, along with packets of incense and bits of furniture.

It was magic place and quite eccentric.



Location; Beech Road


Picture; the shop, Beech Road, 2002, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Always check your photo collections

Always regularly check your old collection of photographs is not a piece of advice I follow which is a shame, because had I dug them out more recently I would have come across this one of Barlow Moor Road.

I can’t remember when I took it but it is before the digital camera which puts it at over 25 years ago. And I have to admit the quality is rather lacking but it tells a story.

 The parade dates from about 1912 and in its time has been host to many businesses. Shortly after it was opened the first shop on the block was a sweet shop which by the late 1950s was selling electrical good and when I took my picture was Martins the Estate agent and since then has gone through many changes becoming more recently a computer repair shop.

 But for the best part of the 20th century the central section was Shaw’s Motor Garage. It was there when A.H. Downes recorded the scene in 1959 and was there soon after the parade was built. And sometime perhaps around 1912 Mr Shaw had opened the first kerb side petrol pump which in the way things were done was captured on camera.

The caption on the picture says 1912 but I am not so sure and I think a trawl of the directories might push the date a little later although having said that the car registration places the car at 1913.

But I am getting carried away. Charles Shaw was living on Wilbraham Road in a house now demolished next to the Royal Bank of Scotland and described himself in 1911 as a motor engineer which was logical step forward for a man who a decade earlier had been a cycle agent.

 There is more to the Shaw’s which I shall leave s for another time. They after all were one of those families to move from bikes to cars which in itself is the story of the 20th century. But it does take me back to my imperfect photo, for there briefly exposed above the tattoo shop was part of the old Shaw sign which takes prominent position in the old photograph. 

Ah I hear you mutter all this for an old sign but to me it is the very heart of history. Here boarded up for perhaps fifty years is a little bit of the past that takes us right back to the early 20th century and offers us some continuity for there is still a garage behind the present line of shops.

 Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the Lloyd collection

So no more the second hand shops of Chorlton ......

If you can remember a time before the Chorlton bar culture, you will be able to name at least one of our second hand shops.

Back in the 1970s there was Ken’s on Beech Road, the Green House on Stockton and later Doc’s Second Hand Emporium on Barlow Moor Road.

The idea of recycling clothes, furniture and pretty much anything is not new, and a century ago in the Flat Iron Market in Salford and similar ones in Ancoats, you could pick up a pair of clogs, or a used pair of men’s trousers for a song.

Today you still can, but the objects tend to be in charity shops and depending on the shop they can be quite “up market things”.

So here for those who remember those shops with their musty smell and heap of surprises is Doc’s.

I can’t remember when I took the picture, but it will be the mid 1980s and perhaps even later.

And no sooner was this posted than Marion commented,"how about Jack a Lilie's on Beech Road?" which I confess I had forgotten and more of an admission as I regularly pass the time of day with Lilly at the bus stop.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Doc’s Second Hand Emporium on Barlow Moor Road, circa 1986, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Bryan Barlow and his wonderful bookshop on Beech Road

There will be many like me who remember Bryan the Book with affection.

I got to know him during almost daily visits to his book shop on Beech Road.

It was an amazing place which was an Aladdin’s cave of second hand books which offered up everything from novels to history books, volumes on growing plants and back numbers of Punch, Picture Post and even Women’s Weekly.

Many of the books I bought from Bryan are still on our shelves and I continue to like the idea that shops like Bryan's allowed a book a second and even a third chance to be read, liked and treasured.

Some have even made their way via our lads to Sheffield, Leeds, and even Warsaw.

I always referred to the shop  as “Bryan the Book” while my friend David called him “Chorlton Man” and while there were many other sides to Bryan these two do help describe him and his contribution to the area and in particular Beech Road.

Picture;  Bryan’s Bookshop from the collection of Lawrence Beedle

Miss Caroline Kane ..... a dress, a cake and a steam ship....... Chorlton in the 1900s

Now I came across Miss Caroline Kane while looking for a relative of someone who lives in Chorlton.

Miss Kane's shop,trading in 1960 as Meadow's

The brief was that the Kane’s had lived in Chorlton and had a shop.

Finding Miss Kane who ran a dress making business from 24 Wilbraham Road proved relatively easy except that my Miss Kane didn’t belong to the family I was researching.

And that of course is how it often goes.  At which point anyone who has gone looking for their family will know that out there, there are the desperate who will hoover up anyone who vaguely seems connected which might tick a box but is pretty pointless.

So back to Miss Kane, who’s life like everyone’s is fascinating and offers up an interesting take on how a single woman in the early 20th century made her living.

She was born in Shropshire in 1874 and was one of eight children born to Mary and Arthur Kane who was a French polisher.

Sometime between 1879 and 1880, they settled in Pendleton in Salford and by 1901 Miss Kane describes her occupation as “Confectionary Bakery” adding “on her own account” which suggests she was working for herself.

But to what degree is unclear, because she is not listed in the business directory before 1907 when she has changed direction and is selling dresses on Wilbraham Road.

And in 1979 as Budget Wallpapers.

The change may have been connected with her sister Martha who six years earlier is listed a “Tailoress” and who in 1911 is working in the Wilbraham Road business as a “shop assistant”.

The devil will now be in the detail because to track her after 1911 will mean visiting Central Ref and trawling through the hard copies of the street and business directories.

I know that in 1930 she returned from New York aboard the Cunard steam ship Scythia having visited Boston, and her address is listed as Cranbourne Road which where she is still living nine years later in the company of a Louise Keogh.

By 1939 Miss Kane describes her occupation as “unpaid domestic duties” while Ms Keogh was a retired accounts clerk.

And there for now the trail goes cold, although I do know she died in 1967 in Manchester leaving me to ponder on when her shop became Meadows which then became Kyle’s the wallpaper shop and changed its name to Budget Wallpapers.

Leaving me just to thank Luisse who set me off on the search for the Kane's and led me to Miss Caroline

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Wilbraham Road, 1960, A E Landers, m18302, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and in 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The mystery behind the Maypole on Wilbraham Road

Now I grant you as mysteries go it ain’t Agatha Christie or even a Sexton Blake but I am intrigued by the wrought iron arch behind the Maypole grocery shop at number 41 Wilbraham Road.

Maypole Dairy, 41 Wilbraham Road

The shop opened in 1909 and was still trading fifty years later and is now part of LewisBet, the Bookmakers.

Today the gap between the Maypole Diary and what is now Barclays Bank is a small retail unit.

When this was constructed is unclear but in 1959 it is there and part of the grocery shop.

But that doesn’t help with my bit of ornate iron work.

It may of course still be there and I suppose I should pop down and explore, or at the very least ask the owners of R J’s the barber shop to have a look out back.

That ironwork

But where would the mystery be in that?

Even if it is still there, that doesn’t help with the question of why it was erected.

Maps of the period do not help although the 1907 map does hint at something beside the bank and back then this was the Manchester and County Bank who may have decided on putting up a bit of decorative iron work, but I somehow doubt it.

Of course Mr Lloyd who added this to his collection may have mistaken this Maypole Dairy for another, opening up the possibility that this isn’t Wilbraham Road, but I doubt it.

We shall see.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; the Maypole Dairy Wilbraham Road, circa 1909, from the Lloyd Collection

The Lost Chorlton pictures ......... no 15. .........

 Now I am pretty confident that this one will bring up a rich collection of memories.

It continued trading into the 1980s and was a wonderful place where the chesses were piled high and there was pretty much any cheese you wanted.

And l have been corrected by John Paul Moran who tells me it continued trading well in to the 1990s. Thanks John.

Location; Wilbraham Road










Picture; the bacon and cheese shop, 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A parish magazine ..... a heap of parochial news ..... and Mr. Lascelles's superior wall tiles ...... Chorlton 1903

Now by chance and with the help of Ida Bradshaw, I am back in 1903, trawling the pages of the March edition of the St Clement’s Parish Magazine.

There will be those who mumble that it is a journey which yields little, but not so.

Contained in its 20 pages are a mix of parochial news, some uplifting stories, accounts of the early Christian Church, and advice for children, along with  biblical questions, a hymn for missionaries and a problem for Draught players.

All of which are fascinating, but a century and a bit on, it is the adverts littered through its pages that make the magazine, a time machine.

In all there are eleven, some advertising national branded goods, but most from local tradesmen, including the butcher R. A. Cooper at 25 Barlow Moor Road, specializing in "Corned Beef and Pickled Tongue", and promising “family orders promptly attended to” and William Mellor, Carting Contractor and Coal Merchant, from 1 Hardy  Avenue whose “Coal Delivered in Bags".

Added to these was Thomas Birrell who was a “Joiner and Builder and General Repairer of Property” with a workshop on the “The Green near the Old Church”, “Estimates given for Greenhouses”.

But the one which drew me in was Geo. E. Lascelles “Dealer in Fish, Game, Poultry, 34, Wilbraham Road, And At Hobson Hall Poultry Farm Egerton Road, Speciality; New Laid Eggs, Farm Fed Chickens, Ducklings, Turkeys, Guinea Fowls Best of Everything at Lowest Possible Prices”.

Now what makes Mr. Lascelles just that bit ahead of his fellow advertisers is that his shop has already featured in several stories recently.

No 34 will be known to many as the home of Shareen Fashions, which supplied school uniforms, and  much more at decent prices, by a family who were always most helpful.

And it was during the alterations by the new owners that I spotted some beautiful period tiles.

Given that they were of fish and poultry I assumed they were put there by Mr. Worthington Brice who was listed as a fishmonger at the property in 1909.

But now I am not so sure, given that George Lascelles was doing the business with fish, chickens, ducklings, and much more six years earlier.

All of which may seem a very nerdy preoccupation, and I have to concede it is, but in the process it all adds to the story of where we live.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; extracts from the St Clement’s Parish Magazine, March 1st, 1903, courtesy of Ida Bradshaw, and poultry tiles, 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Nightingale’s, and an old 78 RPM ............. a little bit of our retail past on Wilbraham Road

Now I wonder if anyone remembers Nightingales the electrical shop which traded from 436 Wilbraham Road.

Like most of the strip of shops along the stretch from Keppel to Albany no 436  is now a fast food out let but back in the middle decades of the last century Nightingale’s sold all things electrical and by 1960 had an impressive range of televisions, transistor radios, fridges and washing machines in its window.

Now I know it was there by 1938 and still there in 1960 by a chance find and three photographs from the Manchester Digital collection.

The chance find was an old 78 RPM record of the Boston Promenade Orchestra performing the Ritual Fire Dance and the Conclusion to Bolero conducted by Arthur Fiedler.

And the catalogue number dated the record to 1938 while the perfectly preserved dust cover offered up the Nightingale name and the address of both the Chorlton shop and another at 58 Wilmslow Road in Withington.

At which point I can claim little credit for the find or much of the subsequent research.

It was Andy Robertson’s son who came across the record and Andy who went looking in Manchester's  digital collection, leaving me the easy job of hunting down the record in the HMV catalogue.

In time I am sure there will be people who offer up all sorts of memories of the shop, what they bought there and perhaps a beginning and end date to the business.

For now I shall just reflect that it wasn’t too long ago that high streets and more humble parades of shops could boast a full range of shopping experiences from the wool shop, electrical business along with DIY, hardware and the odd travel agents.

So there you have it a bit of our consumer past on Wilbraham Road, with just one last observation that it had gone by 1969.

Additional research by Andy Robertson

Pictures; record and dustcover, circa 1938 from the collection of Andy Robertson and Nightingale’s on Wilbraham Road, 1960, A E Landers, m18308 & m18307, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass